Take the lead singer from pretty much any big-time rock band, put him on a stage by himself (and, for good measure, have him play a ukulele for much of the evening) and he's going to crash and burn just about every time.

Not so with Eddie Vedder.

Vedder, frontman for Pearl Jam, played for nearly 2 1/2 hours Saturday night with no drummer, no bass player, no backup singers and no bandmates. Just him and his ukulele (or acoustic guitar, electric guitar or mandolin).

He plays another show at the Times-Union Center on Sunday evening and, if it's anything like Saturday's show, fans can expect a mixed bag.

On Saturday, Vedder was sometimes spectacular, sometimes profane, sometimes low-key and always engaging. The man has a way of connecting with his audience that makes his shows feel like you're watching him play in a corner bar, not a big auditorium. Vedder took requests from the audience, told rambling stories and showed off some of his favorite stringed instruments.

Saturday's show had a very seat-of-the-pants feel to it. You got the feeling that he had a rough idea of what songs he was going to play but made up much of the set list as he went along. It was sort of like putting your iPod on shuffle. He played a bunch of Pearl Jam songs, of course, but also plenty of stuff from his solo work and a wide range of cover songs.

Since he started this leg of his solo tour just a few weeks ago, Vedder has covered songs by artists ranging from the Ramones to Lawrence Welk, from Elvis Presley to the Beatles.

On Saturday, he pulled out a little Pink Floyd ("Brain Damage"), Pete Townshend ("Let My Love Open the Door"), Bob Dylan ("Girl from the North Country"), Neil Young ("Keep on Rockin' in the Free World") and Indio ("Hard Sun"). The audience never knew what was coming next.

Vedder was in fine voice and showed some impressive instrumental skills, getting an awful lot of sound out of an acoustic guitar.

The show, which was originally scheduled for May but postponed, happened to fall during the Jacksonville Boat Parade, which took place right outside the Times-Union Center. Midway through Vedder's set, a fireworks show started outside. He simply switched instruments, breaking out an astonishingly loud 1952 electric ukulele.

He also got very quiet at times. Opening act Glen Hansard -- who played an impressive but too short set of his own -- joined him for a gorgeous version of the Everlys' "Sleepless Nights." The pair performed the song from the microphones -- just two voices and an unamplified ukulele in a room that holds 3,500. Audience members were quick to hush anyone who shouted out during the song, eager to hear every bit of it.

By the end of the night, Vedder had played 31 songs and run past 11 p.m. -- nearly unheard of at a concert these days.

Bottom line: If you want to be entertained, Vedder's Sunday night show at the T-U Center is a good bet. Just don't expect to get home early.